SAEB EREKAT, HEAD OF THE PLO NEGOTIATIONS DEPARTMENT: “THE PALESTINIANS WILL NEVER ACKNOWLEDGE ISRAEL’S JEWISH IDENTITY. … THERE IS NO COUNTRY IN THE WORLD WHERE RELIGIOUS AND NATIONAL IDENTITIES ARE INTERTWINED.”

EREKAT’S GENERALIZATION IS BOTH CURIOUS AND REVEALING. NOT ONLY DO 56 STATES AND THE PLO BELONG TO THE ORGANIZATION OF THE ISLAMIC CONFERENCE, BUT MOST OF THEM, INCLUDING THE PLO, MAKE THE SHARI‘A (ISLAMIC LAW) THEIR MAIN OR ONLY SOURCE OF LEGISLATION. SAUDI ARABIA EVEN REQUIRES THAT EVERY SUBJECT BE A MUSLIM.

“ARGENTINEAN LAW MANDATES GOVERNMENT SUPPORT FOR THE ROMAN CATHOLIC FAITH. QUEEN ELIZABETH II IS THE SUPREME GOVERNOR OF THE CHURCH OF ENGLAND. IN THE HIMALAYAN KINGDOM OF BHUTAN, THE CONSTITUTION PROCLAIMS BUDDHISM THE NATION’S ‘SPIRITUAL HERITAGE.’ … ‘THE PREVAILING RELIGION IN GREECE,’ DECLARES SECTION II OF THE GREEK CONSTITUTION, ‘IS THAT OF THE EASTERN ORTHODOX CHURCH OF CHRIST’.”